


Return of the Four Sages: Royal Flush

by Hip_Neptune



Series: Return of the Four Sages [1]
Category: Super Mario & Related Fandoms, Super Mario Bros. (Video Games), Super Mario Galaxy
Genre: Adventure, Apocalypse, Awkward Romance, Eventual Romance, I Blame Tumblr, Multi, Pre-Apocalypse, Supernatural Elements, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-18
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-06-12 16:41:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15344061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hip_Neptune/pseuds/Hip_Neptune
Summary: When four archaeologist-adventurers stumble upon an ancient temple and its artifacts in Desert Land, what they initially reckon was an interesting nugget of newly-gained knowledge turns into a major conspiracy threatening to consume them... And the world. Part 1 of the Return of the Sages: Apocalyptic series.





	1. The Desert Discovery

Summertime approaches the Mushroom Kingdom; while each land of the mystical continent faces devastating heat waves during the dog days, they all pale in comparison to the Koopahari potion of Desert Land. From the terrible humidity-influenced heat indices of tropical southern Desert Land to the baking dry heat of subtropical northern Desert Land, the perilous Sun plagues the Land with its angry rays much to the annoyance and suffering of its denizens.

Still, despite the unfavorable conditions, four determined journeyers sojourn through the rolling hills of the Koopahari accompanied by a large ostro-pulled wagon. The piercing heat, tornado-like dust devils and sudden haboobs fail to scare them away from their desires of uncovering the many secrets of the familiar, yet strange Koopahari.

A middle-aged green-shelled koopa troopa, none other than Professor Kolorado, guides both the wagon and the expedition. Multiple years since Mario's time in Koopa Village past, but Kolorado's unquenchable lust for treasure and adventure remain if not intensified. Despite needing to be rescued by Mario during such events, he never found the need to learn to better his fighting until Mario found his father dead in Hooktail's Castle. Ever since that fateful discovery, Kolorado's also been training in multiple fighting styles such as mixed martial arts.

"According to Frankly, it should be... Around here? Are we at the right spot, Goombella?" Kolorado questioned the pink goomba next to him.

"We're close! Maybe a few miles off! Where else do the eyes of the Four Directional Stonekoopa cross? It's literally IMPOSSIBLE for it to be anywhere else!"

Like Kolorado, Goombella's also a staunch adventurer, but such a trait only transpired after she aided Mario in defeating the X-Nauts and the Shadow Queen in their world-takeover scheme. Ever since those events, Goombella finished her Bachelor's in Archaeology and her Master's in Archaeology and is now a Ph.D. student in Archaeology and Ancient Studies with Professor Frankly as her advisor. She spends her time adventuring with either Frankly or Kolorado, uncovering the many mysteries of Plit and its ancient civilians. Desert Land's no exception; her desire for knowledge and discovery trumps her want for an air-conditioned study area.

"I hope you're right. Many mysteries of Desert Land and the Dry Dry Desert area will be answered by the Temple of Tenebris, once we find it," Kolorado stated before turning his head towards the back of the wagon, "Get the spades in easy reach, and get the guns ready in case animals or bandits threaten us."

One of the figures, a blue-shelled koopa troopa, gives Kolorado a thumbs-up before reaching for and cocking a hunter's rifle. The koopa troopa, Kooper, aspires to be a world-famous archaeologist like his neighbor Kolorado, and for many years after Mario's visit to Koopa Village, Kooper's been interning for Kolorado. Wanting to move further up the rungs, Kooper then decided to get his Bachelor's in Ancient History and Archaeology at Koopa University, where Kolorado's research laboratory's based. Ever since graduating, he's also been traveling with Kolorado and Goombella on their excavations and research, although he's not as experienced as the two of them.

The fourth figure, a dark-scaled koopa portraying a grey head and shell, smirks at the rifle's cocking before he grabs his camera and starts filming Kooper. While the koopaling, Morton Koopa Junior, doesn't delve into overall archaeology like the other three, he's also the only one of the group who understands the ancient language of Desert Land, having picked up the ability after being interested specifically in ancient Desertlandian history. Morton doesn't enjoy being involved in his father's conquests, but would rather focus on developing documentaries and news stories for his budding television network, TV Koopa. He knew that, somehow, this trip and its resulting documentary will boost the TVK viewership and make it successful.

"Now, don't do this at home," Kooper warned, staring at the camera as he further explained, "Every excavation project has the chance of being overrun by bandits. This is why we carry these weapons with us."

Morton nods his head before filming more of the desolate desert landscape and acting as a narrating voice.

"And so, deep in this desert the archaeologists go, hoping for answers for questions they might not even have right now. So much history lies in the rolling sand dunes; they know that much," Morton voiced before Goombella starts screaming at the others.

"This is it! The gazes of the Four Directional Stonekoopa all line up right here! Let's set up camp and dig!"

The four unload a basic tent from the wagon and pitch it, followed by a giant awning placed above the suspected site of the temple, according to the Stonekoooa. They then unload their basic archaeological tools: spades, specimen brushes and a trowel, among others.

They all dig beneath the awning, enjoying the cool shade the tarp provides. Only loose sand fills the site, with the every-now-and-then excitement that comes when one archaeologist finds a stray desert beetle.

Day turns to night, and the characters decide to throw in the towel for the first night. During this time, Morton films the leisurely activities the other three perform, such as telling ancient ghost stories and double-checking to make sure the location's right. They also dine on rice and beef jerky (as they cannot have fresh meat in the desert, other than perhaps wild animals) during their meal breaks.

Day 1 turns into Day 2, then Day 3 then Day 4. Each of the four dug for hours on end, but none of them found anything ancient or remotely interesting. By the time Day 5 passed, a large hole beneath the awning contrasts with the flat surface just outside the awning's boundaries. Piles of sand excavated from the site now blend in with the several other dunes. The group's unsure of whether this site even contains a temple, but they're also determined that the area's correct. That night, they promised each other that they will only dig for one more day before giving up. After all, they already used up a third of their stock of water; they cannot afford to stay much longer than another week.

During Day 6, a day first started with pessimism over the mission as a whole, their hard work pays off. During one of his digging shifts, Morton pierces a solid substance. Hoping for the best, he digs around the solid surface and found the surrounding area to be diggable.

"Guys! I found something!" Morton gasped, unearthing part of a brick wall. Hearing the call, the other three dash towards the excavation site, amazed at how well-preserved the brick is.

"Oh wow! We found the Temple of Tenebris! This is seriously an archaeologist's life-long dream!" Goombella jumps up and down, squealing.

"Yeah!" Kooper joined in on the excitement, also eager to excavate more of the site.

"Wow. These bricks are something else," Kolorado mused as he grabs a trowel and a specimen brush, "This isn't material used during the beginning of the Twelfth Age or even the Eleventh Age. We're dealing with something truly ancient here. This could very well be the Temple of Tenebris. I'll need to investigate these bricks."

"When was it built?" Morton questioned as he grabs his camera to film Kolorado.

"The Temple of Tenebris was rumoured to have been desecrated around the beginning of the Dark Ages. The Eleventh Age is only one leg of the Dark Ages; the other being the Tenth Age, which started around 145 thousand years ago. So, this temple right here? It must've been built during the preceding Ninth Age. That's how old it is."

"Neat," Morton nods as he films the brick wall, "Let's continue!"

Despite their excitement and hope, as the excavation continued, only remnants of the brick wall remain. No treasure of any sort appears in the Temple, contrary to lore. Still determined, Kooper and Kolorado continue digging, hoping the temple's deeper than anticipated, while Goombella and Morton discuss the current events to contribute for the documentary.

"I hope we find something…" Goombella voiced to the camera, "Ancient lore states that the Temple of Tenebris contains some of the most important treasure the world will ever know."

Morton considers the information before offering an idea, "Maybe it was stolen by bandits? Ancient armies?"

"This land doesn't look to have been disturbed for thousands of years, so no, I don't think so," Goombella disagreed, "But maybe this treasure… Is different. Maybe it's not gold, but instead, maybe it's knowledge of some sort that we don't know. After all, the Ninth Age was all rad; we can seriously learn from them."

"True," Morton stated before asking another question, the camera still rolling, "To inform those who are curious: what was the Temple of Tenebris, exactly?"

Goombella takes off her archaeologists' cap and pushes her blonde hair back with one of her near-invisible hands, "The Temple of Tenebris, as indicated in its name, was for an ancient figure, Tenebris. Tenebris, we theorize, was a Koopan magician of some kind. Lore states that he oversaw the Cosmos; from the lining up of planets to the monitoring of stars, that was Tenebris' field. Because astronomy was so important to ancient culture, Tenebris was highly regarded as a demigod; thus, the temple was built for him, and he ruled a prosperous ancient city. If we find this temple and any artifacts within it, we can solidify this theory. I'm excited about this, honestly! It's the big break, finally!"

"That's cool," Morton commented, planning not to add his less formal comment into the future documentary. Being a fan of Desertlandian history, Morton's also excited to perhaps witness the solidifying of Desertlandian tales and folk stories. As he ponders more questions to inquire Goombella with, jubilant calls erupt from Kolorado and Kooper.

"Guys! Come here! We found something!"

Heeding Kooper's cry, Morton and Goombella rush towards the excavation site and gasp at the newfound object: a chest, appearing to be made of granite, rests in conjunction with one of the temple's walls. Due to the erosive nature of the desert sand, scratches cover the granite, but the sturdy chest shows no damage. Considering the chest laid undisturbed for millennia, the chest's mint condition impresses the characters.

"This could be the treasure!" Goombella screamed before dashing onto the site and thrusting the chest open. The chest contains no gold nor precious metal of any kind, but rather a bundle of tatty ancient scrolls and a white-rodded wand with a black onyx tip. Being an archaeologist and loving new information, Goombella beams at the discovery as she unrolls the scroll bundle, revealing four ancient manuscripts. One manuscript contains only strange, rune-like scribblings, while the other three have eight stars drawn on them.

Unable to understand the language nor the symbolism, Kolorado and Kooper give the manuscripts a puzzled expression. Morton, meanwhile, finds fascination with one of the star-drawn manuscripts and the wand. Wanting to study the findings more, he takes both and walks towards the wagon.

"Get the other scrolls and meet me at the wagon. We'll investigate these."

The three others follow Morton's lead, each holding onto a mysterious manuscript. As they arrive at the wagon, they each lay their manuscript flat on the wagon's back, preparing them for Morton to transcribe and translate them.

"This civilization used magic like ours did. We can confirm that part of your theory, Goombella," Morton commented, holding up the wand, "This wand looks just like ours do, and I'm sure it has the same power, at the very least. But this could also be THE Wand of Tenebris also. I need to investigate this wand if you three don't mind; as a Koopa, it's easier for me to do so. It's crazy how Koopan traditions kept for this long."

Pocketing the wand, Morton moves on to the manuscript he picked up. He studies the ancient text written just above the eight stars and nods at the writing.

"This one says, 'The Elder Gods'," Morton translated before giving the others a puzzled look, "Wait. The same Elder Gods that every other ancient civilization obsessed over?"

"I think so," Kolorado nodded, "The ancient civilizations believed there were seven Elder Gods, and the Star Spirits are simply their mouthpieces. I don't know why eight are drawn considering there are seven."

Morton attempts to soothe out the crinkles in the manuscript, hoping to find more hints about what this thing portrays. However, he notices the paper crinkles in eight stubborn areas, each area housing a star. These weren't ordinary bulges; he knows from other related documents he found within Desert Land.

"There's more to this document than the drawing," Morton remarked, "I think you know this already, but many manuscripts in Desert Land have these bulges. Desert Land used to be a kingdom based on magic. I think these bulges might not be simple crinkles, but rather indicators of a portal! They can be activated either by a koopa's claws or by magic."

Goombella and Kolorado exchange fascinated looks. Knowing those two and their frequent journeys to Desert Land, they no doubt have documents also containing a form of portal.

"What better way to preserve history than have us witness it ourselves?" Kooper questioned, agreeing with Morton, "That's awesome!"

Morton grabs the attained wand from his shell and stares at it. The wand's onyx tip shows reactionary signs as the koopaling hovers it closer to the manuscript. Yep, definitely magic; this must be a portal. Morton then touches the manuscript with the wand's tip, resulting in a slew of blue, magic-like particles of light shooting from the manuscript.

"W-what happened?" Kooper stuttered, at a loss for describing the occurring mystical process.

"I... I don't know," Goombella shrugged, "It could be... Like, a magical document, like how the Magical Map was."

"It appears that way- ACK!" Kolorado attempted to clarify before the blue light then intensifies, expands and engulfs the quartet. About half a minute later, the light then dies down, but the four are now gone; only Morton's still-rolling camera remains.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTES: Well, I finally updated! During November, I was participating in the NaNoWriMo challenge to write 50,000 words in November. Good news is I was successful, albeit in four different stories! Of course, I'm obviously not posting all 50,000 words right now, due to editing and the like, but the wait for the next few chapters of all my stories, including this one, won't be as long a wait. I can definitely squeeze in another chapter before the end of the year, perhaps even two.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy!

 

* * *

**Chapter II**

**5 years later...**

Residents in the Mushroom Kingdom still recall the days of sleeping with fire flowers under their pillows in fear of another take-over-the-Kingdom scheme by Bowser. The terror of witnessing an utter sight of destruction left behind by the Koopa King's fury-driven destruction still sweep throughout the land. The blood-curdling screams of their beloved princess pierce the air of the serene land, even throughout this period of peace agreed on by Bowser, Peach and the Mario Brothers three years ago.

Oh, how those days were simple and predictable. Every destructive act in the Mushroom Kingdom, save for the takeovers of Smithy, Cackletta and Fawful, the residents blamed Bowser in some degree, hands down. Now, the safety of their princess may be compromised by a string of unknown, mysterious kidnappings—even if the kidnappings took place as far away as Sarasaland.

Despite its vast distance east from the Kingdom, Sarasaland and its four kingdoms, ruled by Peach's cousin Daisy, formed and maintained excellent relations with the Mushroom Kingdom. In fact, sightings of Princess Daisy and Princess Peach together flood the media, strengthening the already strong bond the two kingdoms have. Strong enough that, when Tatanga kidnapped Daisy and took over Sarasaland, Mario retaliated by defeating the short, purple alien and once again liberating the exhausted kingdom (hence Sarasaland was the first time he saved a nation other than the Mushroom Kingdom) and the media considered this the introductory period of becoming a worldwide hero.

As Sarasaland doesn't get involved in international affairs unlike the Mushroom Kingdom, nothing major occurred in Daisy's kingdom since that fateful day, until these strings of kidnappings—codenamed 'Royal Flush'. Daisy just happened to disappear, as well as many high-ranking officials of the Sarasalandian military.

Nothing more than a set of unproven hypotheses on how Daisy and her officials vanished without a trace make up the Royal Flush mystery. This 'disappearance' started when Daisy missed a meeting with the Birabuto Kingdom about two weeks prior. Though last seen in Birabuto the day before the scheduled meeting, the desert princess seemed to be snatched up by the desert's dry and open air, disappearing without a trace.

While every intelligence agency in the Mushroom World investigate the lone case of Daisy's disappearance, one koopaling believes it's part of a rather fishy trend; a trend which also affect both his father and his eldest brother for weeks at a time.

* * *

A dark Saturday morning greets the residents of the Kastle Koopa Complex, the dreary air blending in with the grim landscape of central Dark Land. Due to the Koopalings' coming-of-age from teenagers to adults, Bowser assigned each one to be a part-time ambassador to their chosen land. To lure the koopalings into staying, Bowser's architects, commanded by Ludwig and Iggy, built seven separate tower add-ons, each about three stories high, surrounding the castle and attached to it. Of course, despite the project starting just weeks after the peace treaty, the construction workers only finished the job around a week ago, resulting in many of the koopalings not being fully moved in yet.

On the second floor of the northwest tower, suspense music leaks out of the tucked-away bedroom, but the tunes get stifled as quick as it starts. Not long after, Larry arises from his queen-sized bed and performs his stretching routine.

While every other koopaling ditched their criminal ways (despite their ravaging greed still appearing untamed), almost nothing changed of Larry since the three-year-old peace treaty took effect. He still snoops around in areas he shouldn't, and he hacks everything from private entities to governmental databases. What may change is he doesn't do them out of ill-intent, but rather due to his belief that nobody should be left out of the light on major issues.

And, of course, Larry sees these strings of kidnappings as a major issue hidden by the Elite. No ruler gets kidnapped in the plain-of-day, especially not the ruler of the second-largest kingdom on the planet, but no one in the Media nor any government bureaucracy can clutch such a simple fact.

He needs to find the truth, and he will find it out with the help of his team of hackers. He'll even break into any system and compromise his position as Ambassador to Grass Land just to be informed.

Just feet from his bed rests a large desktop computer system, coupled with three monitors—one of the few appliances Larry bothered to unpack after the move-in. Pushing the on button on the desktop's tower, the computer wakes up from its sleep; almost on cue, a group voice chat request pops up. Smirking, Larry answers the call.

"Any new information?" Larry questioned, not bothering to greet the six faces that appear on the top-right monitor.

"There's been plenty of data transfers from your location, Alpha, especially uploading. I emailed the files to you. Have you been doing anything?"

"Thank you, I'll check them out soon. And no. I've been too busy moving my stuff into my new tower for the past week. I didn't have much access to my computer or any hacking tools," Larry replied, "Which only proves my stance. Point is, I don't trust my dad but the rest of my siblings seem to, like blind sheep. Especially Ludwig and Morton. In fact, Morton's becoming part of the problem with that TV network of his, blasting all these distractions or even pro-government news. He's in some conspiracy with them, most likely."

"Alpha, why don't you trust your own father? Any deeper reason?" one of the people in the video call fired question after question, "And are you letting any of your siblings in on our plans?"

"No no no, none of my siblings will be in on any of this, at least not yet. If I'm adding a sibling, then it's either Iggy, Lemmy or POSSIBLY Roy; as acting king of Dark Land, he's just as confused as I am," Larry clarified, "I don't want my secret plans out there, and I ESPECIALLY don't want Bowser to know, as he's part of the government elite. Anyway, Bowser's sneaky, Beta. Of course he's not as sneaky as me, but he still has a knack to hide stuff. I refuse to be snuck up on, and I know he's planning something. No one outsmarts Larry Koopa."

"Yes, yes. Anyway, you didn't upload any files, so your dad probably has an intranet connection that you want to break into," Beta finished.

"Well, technically Kamek's, but Bowser also uses that connection. I'm honestly not sure how much of a role Kamek plays in all this. However, to access the intranet, I need to get through his actual Internet connection, and I can't get into his connection..." Larry moaned.

"Can't get into it?"

Before Larry can respond, Beta beats him to it.

"Theta, Kamek's WiFi connection probably has the new security protocol, one that makes even WPA2 look like a pathetic plastic padlock. It comes with all the security features offered with WPA2, but it doesn't allow brute-force hacking."

"So I can't get in," Larry muttered, continuing with Beta's explanation, "The only way I can get signals from the network is if I poison the ARP. It should work because Kamek still didn't enable port security."

"What?" Theta questioned.

"So I will get in through his connection, it'll just be much harder than usual. Being able to actually access his computer will be tougher since I need to trick him into installing a Remote Accessing Tool, and that would get me noticed easier."

"Yeah, just be passive with that Internet connection," Theta suggested.

"I agree," Beta nodded, "I always hated ARP spoofing. The victims always catch me."

"Usually happens when the user's aware of their MAC address. Kamek can barely remember his password to log on..." Larry informed his group. He then lets out a sigh before he speaks once again, "Kamek's Intranet's down for some reason. I'll have to find out info about Bowser's plans when it's back up. Thanks for the files!"

Before the rest of the group can say their parting messages to Larry, the call shuts down.

Larry stares at the dozen email attachments purportedly sourced from Kamek's intranet connection. He clicks the first one, which brings up a photo of a large complex with nine towers: eight of them forming an octagonal perimeter while the ninth, larger tower occupies the middle. Larry first thought the picture was a construction plan of the new Kastle Koopa Complex, but the picture appears real, the towers are much more massive than three stories, and it appears to be in a desert-like environment with plenty of sunlight. This environment, in no way, matches Dark Land.

Larry clicks on the second attachment: a scanned copy of an old papyrus scroll. Perplexed, the youngest koopaling attempts to decipher the words, but they appear to be an ancient language he never encountered.

Uninterested in the scroll, Larry opens the third: a simple Koopasoft Word document containing what appears to be a translated version of the scroll. Larry's interest in the find turns into sudden fear: this is no normal prophesy, but one laying out the start of apocalypse-like events due to "the waking Elder Gods destroying Plit". In the document, a set of instructions for visiting three periods of time also appears.

In order to better document his finds, Larry prints the third attachment before opening the fourth, fifth and sixth: three ancient scrolls, two of them portraying eight stars on them while the third has eight mysterious figures outlined. Equating these to also be important materials, Larry prints each of the three.

He also knows that he'll need help from someone else who's fluent, or at least proficient, in ancient Desertlandian writing. Unfortunately, the only two he knows to understand such languages are also two of his siblings, and he didn't want his siblings involved unless necessary. But this qualifies, he reasoned.

"Wow. Morton's probably involved in all this, as he's leaving for "business" soon, so the only person I know who can figure out this sort of ancient writing, that I can trust, is Roy. He can translate these manuscripts for me, since that Word document only did for the general prophesy!"

Larry then clicks the forward button and starts typing the R and the O, then hits the tab key. He types in a brief "Please help me with translating these documents" line of text in the email before pressing Send.

"Forwarding email to: Roy Koopa."

"Good," Larry smirks, although he's unsure of whether his action was the smartest. After all, Roy's considered the ruler of Dark Land while Bowser and Ludwig are out; either he's part of it and will jail Larry for such actions, or he'll appreciate his younger brother's information. Larry automatically assumes the latter option; Roy doesn't give off a fishy vibe unlike Bowser and Ludwig. Plus, due to their similar interests concerning sports and stealth, Larry's bond with Roy's closer than with the bonds with most of his siblings.

As the email attempts to send, a sudden brownout occurs, causing Larry's computer to shut down. Of course, the sole time Larry has a researchable lead on a conspiracy debunking...

"Dammit!"

Larry attempts to reboot his computer to no avail: the power surge most likely fried the circuits. He, for once, was stumped on what to do. Sure, he can always buy or build another computer, but he'd also lose all the files he received from hacking ever since his last full backup almost two months ago. Financial records, the Mushroom Kingdom's trade secrets and evidence of otherwise-unproven conspiracies such as Daisy's "kidnapping", among other sensitive documents, now held hostage by an unfamiliar force. Ditto with repairing it; he may lose all the invaluable information.

As Larry leaves his failed computer in frustration, his cellphone rings. He checks the caller ID: Ludwig. Larry growls; perhaps Ludwig's behind the destruction of his computer. He might as well answer the call; Ludwig's plan may slip through the cracks, after all.

"Long time no speak," Larry voiced, finding success in hiding anger from his voice.

"It has been, brother," Ludwig replied, "But Father's requesting your presence immediately."

Without bothering to say goodbye, Ludwig hangs up. Ludwig's distancing himself from his former best brother – that confirms his involvement in sinister behavior – and perhaps such a meeting will, at least, unleash the facts he's desiring.

* * *

Three doomships cruise over Water Land's capital of Seashell City before landing at a near-deserted restaurant without signs or advertisements of any kind. Despite being a questionable, run-down location, many of the Mushroom Kingdom's rich dine here due to the luxurious interior, the top-rated fresh food and the total ban on paparazzi within a hundred feet of the building. Not many outside the affluent circle know of the place, also making the restaurant more attractive.

Roy, Morton and Iggy, no exceptions to the restaurant's reputation, park their doomships just behind the building, out of view from one of the city's side streets. Getting out of the doomships, the trio enter the restaurant, and each grabs a menu. Despite the barren parking lot, several high-profile figures, such as Toad, Toadette, Yoshi and Birdo, litter the restaurant. Toadette and Yoshi both look up from their tables and wave at the group, in which Morton waves back. Of course, even during the conflict between the Mushroom Kingdom and Dark Land, the patrons always showed civility towards others, whether enemy or ally.

Finding a suitable booth table in a more isolated corner of the restaurant, the trio sit down before continuing the conversation they were having.

"TVK's networks have been a big hit the past week, due to the Daisy disappearance," Morton boasted, "Ever since we've been covering it, we've been getting consistent 2 to 3 million views throughout the day, and even up to 7 million during primetime, and that's just the Mushroom Kingdom Today's news section of TVK. The other ten news sections are doing great also!"

Since the pressure to kidnap Peach no longer burden him, Morton now focuses fulltime on his TV network: Television Koopa. Originally starting out as an independent news organization approximately five years ago, TVK's now a multimillion-coin, government-endorsed enterprise consisting of about two-dozen mainstream sub-channels that specialize in a swath of topics, from the news (in which eleven of those sub-channels do on a full-time basis), to house hunting, to sitcoms, thrillers and dramas. Ever since becoming CEO of the company, every month Morton's been leaving Dark Land for about a week and a half due to apparent "corporate reasons".

"That's great, bro," Roy nodded his head, "I'm surprised da Government let you air da news reports."

"Eh, you know how government works. They want some things aired; others censored. Sarasaland and the Mushroom Kingdom want to look like they're doing something about Daisy, just to build trust in their people rather than have the people revolt."

"Iunno, man… TVK's been wrapped up with Mushroom Government influence lately."

"No. We receive zero funding from the Gov," Morton disproved Roy's claim, "We even do investigative journalism into government corruption; how's that supporting the Gov?"

"… Good point."

As the conversation does down, a smiling toad waitress approaches the koopalings, pen in hand.

"Good afternoon, Koopalings! My name is Angela Toad, and I'll be taking care of you! What can I get for you, sir?" she questioned as she eyes Roy.

"Uhh… I'll take a Sky Land Imperial Stout, and also one of your fire-roasted Goomburgers, hold the sauce."

"Make that two of each!" Morton called out.

"I'll just take a lemonade, and an order of your chips and queso," Iggy ordered.

"Okay, I'll bring those right out!" the waitress curtsied before leaving the table, order in hand.

As she leaves the table, Roy and Morton both stare at Iggy as if he's grown an extra head.

"You never not order food here!" Morton gasped, "Still hungover from that party last night?"

"In my defense… Try to force gulp a bottle of spiced gin in under 30 seconds just because you're too damn competitive to say no," Iggy rebutted, "I'm tired of having the sledge brothers constantly down the bottle the quickest then brag forever about it, so I needed to do it. Good news was I won! Hahaha! But I've been queasy all today and I was vomiting buckets last night."

"All worth it, bro," Roy added, "So… I heard you quit your other job with E. Gadd?"

Iggy nods, "E. Gadd has too many top secret projects he's working on, so we hardly invent together. So, I decided just to throw in the towel and instead focus more on our relations with Giant Land."

"Good plan, man, but politics is messy. I know dat," Roy sighed, "Half da time I run Dark Land 'cus Pops is gone somewhere, Ludwig's dead in some hole somewhere I swear, and Lemmy is… Well, Lemmy."

"That's tough."

"Yeah man," Roy sighed as he rubs his forehead, "Much of da past week I had to play PA for da kingdom due to dis Daisy crap, because stupid media outlets like yours have to recycle da damn story, Morton."

"Hey! Not cool."

"Now you feel my pain. Just stop covering it; easy enough as dat."

"One word: Ratings," Morton pointed out, "People don't care for Peach's kidnappings because she can't see two straight Wednesdays without being kidnapped. Daisy, meanwhile… That never happens!"

"I don't care what your million idiots want to see. If dis gets in da way of national security, I'll have to take action," Roy threatened before softening his tone, "Look. News is cool and all, but can you… Maybe find other stories? In a kingdom of over 20 million, it's not hard. Dis is coming from da current ruler of Dark Land."

Before Morton's able to retort on the concept of ratings, the waitress returns with the drinks and the food orders.

"Two fire-roasted Goomburgers," the waitress called, setting down a plate containing a large burger and a pile of crispy fries in front of Roy. She then puts down an identical plate in front of Morton, followed by a basket of tortilla chips for Iggy and the three drinks they ordered, "One chips with queso, two stouts and the lemonade. And there's that! Everything looking good? Did I forget anything?"

"Everything's great, including you," Roy winked at the waitress, causing her to blush, "Thanks."

Still blushing and smiling, the waitress walks away from the trio, causing Morton and Iggy to gape at Roy.

"Roy's hitting on a girl actually worked!" Iggy gasped, "Usually they smack you with their purse."

"Yeah man," Roy replied shortly after chewing and swallowing much of his burger, "Dem purses, I swear da only ding in da bathroom missin' from dem are da toilets."

While Iggy giggles at Roy's unthought-of joke, Morton's work cellphone begins ringing. Annoyed at the interruption, the koopaling answers.

"Morton Koopa Junior."

"Good afternoon, dear brother," the voice responds, "Are you in a private area?"

"Uhh, no. I'm at Fiery Goomba."

"In Seashell City?" the voice questioned before skipping over his query, "Get in a private area, now. I have important news."

"Okay," Morton replied before covering the phone's receiver and whispering to the other two, "I'll be back in a bit."

Roy and Iggy both give Morton a thumbs-up before Morton paces towards the restaurant's bathrooms, hoping no one else thinks of occupying the room. As he enters the single-stall bathroom and locks the door, the koopaling replies, "Go on."

"It's about Lawrence. He was caught with compromising information," the concern-saturated voice informed.

"I know. I wanted Larry to get involved in our plan. We need more technical support up there, anyway. I purposely gave those files to Larry through a group of my Emissary spies; our intranet's too encrypted for even Larry to access from the outside, and we had to pretend that the connection wasn't," Morton informed.

"I'm worried he won't be accepted by Father."

"Who cares what Dad thinks?" Morton replied, "He's just one member of Council, and we both make up two. Plus the rest of the Council members promise an unbiased view in whether to accept him or not. Honestly, Larry will be extremely useful to our cause, and I don't see him having a problem with receiving majority support from Council."

"Was Lawrence analyzed before?"

"I've done an informal one on him, and he seems fit to know more info."

"Okay, then I'll sponsor him for membership. Father is, in fact, requesting his presence even as we speak. A thousand thank yous, Morton."

"Any other info I need to know?"

A little pause occurred on the other side before the voice speaks up, "To emphasize on my previous point, one of your Emissary spies sent Lawrence twelve attachments, all of them detailing our base, the manuscripts, the translations and our post-apocalyptic plans."

Morton nods; he had spies, disguised as fellow hackers, befriend Larry and stealthily drag him into the plan. Larry's skepticism to conspiracies prevents his elder brother from directly inquiring of Larry's desire to join their cause, resulting in this route needing to be taken.

"Lawrence also forwarded them to Roy."

"… Dammit," Morton facepalms, "Roy wasn't supposed to know yet. I want him in, just like I want the rest of our siblings, but I wanted to get Iggy first. But… This could be good. Roy's dangerously close to finding out what TVK actually is, and we can't allow that."

"So, we have no choice…"

"But to either force him into membership, or… Well, lifelong incarceration or even execution. I need to enforce my duties, but Roy's also my brother, and I'm scared that he won't pass my basic test," Morton sighed, "And I just don't want to overrun the base with initiates either."

"Understandable, dear brother, but remember, it's your duty to bring in whoever you think is best. If Roy and Iggy are, then bring them up. Don't rely on Father for advice; he doesn't rule you. But please meet at Father's castle. We have important business to take care of with him, although you'll miss our conversation with Lawrence."

Morton sighs, "Of course. On my way. Thanks for the updates, Ludwig."

Morton hangs up before exiting the bathroom, thankful that no other patron entered during his conversation. He makes his way towards the booth he sat at, ready to be placed in the hot seat by Roy and Iggy about Ludwig's current condition, but halts when he spots the cleaned booth, left used just minutes ago.

Roy and Iggy both left; not even a bite of the food remain.

**Author's Note:**

> G'day, and welcome to my old idea, yet new series, Return of the Four Sages!
> 
> I must admit, I have numerous inspirations for this story, both when I had this idea as a sequel to Shards of Love (back in the mid-2000's) and as I actually type it up now (and no, this is NOT a sequel of Shards of Love; it's not even based in the same canon universe I use). Amongst the biggest ones were other postapocalyptic dystopias, such as 1984, Brave New World, The Hunger Games, Fahrenheit 451 and Divergent, among others. You'll see MANY references to these stories in here, albeit in a unique, Mario-esque way.
> 
> Unlike many of these stories, I also wanted to include the PROGRESSION from a seemingly-normal setting to one where the dystopian matter begins to kick in, and I wanted to make it sound more logical and clean (although possibly not realistic in Earth terms). I couldn't have done this without the likes of apocalypse-themed websites such as PA Forum, Two Journeys, Cosy Catastrophe, multiple stories on Ashtales and other apocalypse conspiracy websites I found concerning weather, earth changes, Sun novas, pole switches, among others.
> 
> Another major part of the series, societal resettlements, worldbuilding (especially ones setting colony on Mars), and the advancements of such societies, was inspired by several novels and short stories, such as Greg Bear's The Forge of God, J.T. McIntosh's One in Three Hundred, and many of Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles short stories, among several others.
> 
> Other important inspirations in this series include references to Sages and lore. Much of the concept of the Sages come from Avatar: the Last Airbender (especially towards the end of Book 1 and pretty much all of Book 2), Mario and Luigi: Seven Sages (this game is THE reason why I reference Sages rather than anything else, and this provides the basis of Sage actions in Book 2. M&L:SS is a fanmade RPG made in 2009; it's great considering it's unofficial), Paper Mario (especially N64, GCN and Wii versions), other M&L games such as Bowser's Inside Story and Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. Many, many other inspirations exist, especially when I'm too passive to look for them, but when they pop up, I'll try to give credit.
> 
> Anyway, thank you for reading! Reviews are appreciated.


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